


Wish He'd Never Said That

by afteriwake



Series: Can You Keep A Secret? [1]
Category: The Mentalist
Genre: Co-workers, Episode: s01e09 Flame Red, F/M, Grace Thinking, Love Confessions, POV Grace Van Pelt, Pre-Relationship, Secret Crush, bad timing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-25
Updated: 2017-09-25
Packaged: 2019-01-05 07:19:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12185469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: Right now she wishes Wayne had never opened up his mouth...





	Wish He'd Never Said That

**Author's Note:**

> So I finally got around to putting what I have of this series I wrote _aaaaaaages_ ago and I'm going to finally post it here on AO3. It's nine stories and missing a lot of moments I usually have in a series, but it's been so long since I've written for this fandom I doubt I will add more. Still, enjoy what I have!

It wasn't until she was in the car on her way to the real estate agent's house that what Wayne had said really hit her. Of course, he was doped up on painkillers so she wasn't sure how much of it she could believe, or how much of it he'd remember when he finally sobered up, but he'd said it and it was stuck in her head and she just could not get the words to stop ringing through her mental blocks.

He hadn't simply said he liked her. He said the other L word, the one that immediately sent all of her defenses up. _Love_. He said he _loved_ her. She was sure she should be taking it with a grain of salt, considering the overmedicated state he was in, but something about it, about how easily he'd chosen that specific L word...it worried her.

Because as much as she wanted to completely deny she had any feelings for him, she couldn't. And that was going to make everything so much harder.

She didn't want to lose her job. She loved her job...right now, it was the most important thing in her life. And, sadly, it was also the _only_ thing in her life. With traveling up and down the state for various cases she didn't have time for a lot else in her life. Certainly no time for a boyfriend who was willing to put up with the hectic schedule she had. Sometimes she just barely had enough time and energy for a good homemade meal and a restful night's sleep.

But that night of restful sleep had been more and more elusive lately. Part of it was that her sleep schedule was a little more messed up than usual from late night surveillance duties, but another part of it was that she was sleeping alone and she was getting more and more tired of it. She wanted to share her off time with someone. She wanted to have someone to maybe go home too. Not necessarily a husband, but maybe a serious boyfriend.

And all the protocol at work hadn't stopped her from thinking that maybe Wayne might be someone to go home too. Not that she ever _would_ , because as she kept telling herself, she loved her job and didn't want to lose it, especially over a guy. But still. Her mind wandered sometimes and played around in "what if" scenarios, and when reality came crashing in again she just threw herself into the job more to help her forget.

Lately, though, it hadn't been working. She'd almost thought about asking Lisbon to pair her with Cho more often. Anything to keep her from being in an intimate enclosed space with Wayne, because it was driving her nuts. But she knew if she did that it'd come off looking bad, so she just suffered in silence.

And then he had to go and say something. She really hoped that when the pain pills wore off he'd forget he said anything, and she could just pretend that moment hadn't happened, that she was blissfully unaware that he might have any feelings for her and that things could get back to how they were supposed to be, without any possibility of any relationship ever hinting at the horizon.

Because if they didn't, she really didn't know what she'd do.


End file.
